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The state-owned operator of the UK’s largest nuclear waste site has pleaded guilty to prison prices introduced by the trade regulator over IT security breaches.
Lawyers performing for Sellafield advised a London court docket on Thursday that they accepted cyber security was “not sufficiently adhered to for a period”, though they insisted there had not been a profitable cyber assault and that its programs have been now safe.
One of the costs to which Sellafield pleaded guilty was that it failed in March final yr to “ensure that there was adequate protection of sensitive nuclear information on its information technology network”.
The different two prices associated to failures to prepare “annual health checks” for its programs.
Sellafield pleaded guilty to all three prices within the prosecution introduced by the Office for Nuclear Regulation below the Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003. Sentencing will happen on August 8.
Sellafield Ltd, which is owned by the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, is in command of cleansing up and taking care of the Sellafield nuclear waste facility in Cumbria, north-west England.
The 6 sq km site holds waste from the UK’s present energetic fleet of nuclear energy vegetation, in addition to from closed vegetation, together with the previous fleet of Magnox reactors.
It holds the world’s largest stockpile of plutonium, a byproduct of nuclear energy manufacturing, and is described by the ONR as “one of the most complex and hazardous nuclear sites in the world”.
Paul Greaney KC, representing Sellafield, advised Westminster Magistrates’ Court that the guilty pleas “reflect the fact that while it had in place systems of cyber security, those systems were not sufficiently adhered to for a period”.
“However, it is important to emphasise there was not and has never been a successful cyber attack on Sellafield.” He added: “The offences to which Sellafield has pleaded guilty are historical. They do not reflect the current position.”
Greaney stated that Sellafield’s programs have been “robust” and added that media stories that its site had been compromised have been “false”.
The Guardian newspaper beforehand alleged that Sellafield’s IT programs had been hacked by teams linked to Russia and China.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation stated in a press release on Thursday: “We acknowledge that Sellafield Limited has pleaded guilty to all charges . . . These charges relate to historic offences and there is no evidence that any vulnerabilities were exploited.”
The prosecution is the primary the ONR has introduced below the 2003 rules.